Law à la Mode: The future of retail; Green fashion; E-commerce in China; Brexit update: trademarks and design; and more

Issue 22

The UK editorial team is delighted to bring you the 22nd edition of
Law à la Mode, the quarterly legal magazine published by DLA Piper’s
Retail Sector group for clients and contacts of the firm worldwide.

In this issue, we hear from Stefaan Le Clair, Founder and Managing
Director of Berenike Global Fashion Management, a Belgian national
and expert on retail management and customer experience for fashion,
department stores and home improvement retailing. He tells us
about the changes he has seen in the retail sector over the last two to
three years and his predictions for the next fi ve years. We also hear his
views on evolving technology, its impact on the customer experience
and the future of traditional brick and mortar stores.

We also bring you a selection of articles on how technology is
transforming the retail sector, the impact of increasing compliance
challenges faced by retailers and how “green” initiatives are driving
change. And no UK edition of Law à la Mode would be complete without
an article on Brexit; here, we bring you an update on the implications of
Brexit for trademarks and designs.

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In this issue

2014 was all about new technology;
2015 saw focus turn to customer
experience; 2016 saw a shift to
customer profiling; and 2017 has, so
far, seen the dialogue centre on offline
and online issues regarding consumer
behaviour during the customer journey.

Several recent market studies support the assumption
that a responsible and sustainable production as well as distribution of products plays
a much larger role to consumers than it did in the past. This also applies in the retail
and fashion sector and, as a result, sustainable or ecological behaviors have now
made their way into trademark portfolios.

In 2016, China surpassed the US to become the world’s largest
retail market. China is now also the world’s largest e-commerce
market, with sales in 2016 of US$900 billion dollars,
representing almost half of the global e-commerce market. Its
success has been driven by factors including the proliferation of
domestic marketplaces, an expanding middle class and improving
infrastructure to support e-commerce.

Although some time has passed since the UK’s vote to leave the EU, the full implications of Brexit for
trademarks and designs remain unclear. Statements made by EU and UK officials have not changed that
position, nor did Theresa May’s Brexit speech in January 2017 provide any indication what path the UK
may take with respect to EU trademarks and Community designs. The UK government’s White Paper
entitled “United Kingdom’s exit from and new partnership with the European Union” published on
2 February 2017 is equally silent on this issue.

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DLA Piper is a global law firm with lawyers located in more than 40 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, positioning us to help clients with their legal needs around the world.

DLA Piper is a global law firm with lawyers located in more than 40 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, positioning us to help clients with their legal needs around the world.

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